Can we use the beta revision of the roborio in competition?

[kyle924]

While at the first of our 2 regional competitions, our roborio became unresponsive and the status light blinked constantly indicating an unrecoverable error. We still have the beta hardware and that works flawlessly. Will beta hardware cause a red flag during inspection or will we have to borrow one from the event, or call customer service about the unrecoverable roborio? As long as the firmware is the same, i would imagine they would work the same.

[Mark McLeod]

I imagine that some of the spare roboRIO's in Spare Parts will be old Beta equipment.

[orangemoore]

Originally Posted by kyle924

While at the first of our 2 regional competitions, our roborio became unresponsive and the status light blinked constantly indicating an unrecoverable error. We still have the beta hardware and that works flawlessly. Will beta hardware cause a red flag during inspection or will we have to borrow one from the event, or call customer service about the unrecoverable roborio? As long as the firmware is the same, i would imagine they would work the same.

Is there a difference an inspector could notice?

I'm not suggesting to not tell your inspector but if it looks the same and functions the same then wouldn't effectively be the same as a non-beta controller?

[kyle924]

Thanks. I was reading one of the rule updates and all that r45 says is that it must be a roborio imaged with version 23, and it is so I would imagine it is okay.

[Greg McKaskle]

You don't mention contacting NI's support number. The unrecoverable error is not as fatal as it sounds, and generally means that it needs a lower level flashing than the shipped utility performs. They will likely walk you though this procedure. If this is not successful, they will advise you how to return the unit to NI.

As to your original question. If it is properly imaged, it should function the same in almost all ways. But I wouldn't try to hide this from the inspector, and I would let them make the decision.

Greg McKaskle